


I'll keep on running, running home to you

by av_versiera



Category: Naruto, Naruto Shippuden
Genre: Character Study, F/M, Gen, Kushina waits for Minato for years, Minato spends afterlife fighting with Kurama, Reflection, i guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-31
Updated: 2020-08-31
Packaged: 2021-03-07 03:08:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26209975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/av_versiera/pseuds/av_versiera
Summary: “You’re late, y’know,” Kushina tells him with exasperation. “For the fastest shinobi on earth, you sure did take your time getting here.”Minato gives her a small, gentle smile. Sadness tinged his pretty blue eyes, as if he had been crying. “Better late, than never, my love.”-Namikaze Minato reflects on his life while he is trapped in purgatory-like space with Kurama and what time means to him, despite being an expert on time bending.
Relationships: Namikaze Minato & Uzumaki Kushina & Uzumaki Naruto, Namikaze Minato/Uzumaki Kushina
Comments: 6
Kudos: 36





	I'll keep on running, running home to you

_Namikaze Minato_ . The _Yondaime Hokage_ . The _Yellow Flash of Konoha_ , the man who killed more than a thousand people in a blink of an eye. A man so skilled that he is feared and hated by many, a man so frightening that enemy shinobi have no choice but to flee. 

No one really knows much about his origins, just that he is a boy who had nothing on his name, and his years in the Academy have proven that he is a genius, the kind of genius that graces a generation once. Jiraiya had noticed this and had taken the boy under his wing. His bright blond hair and his cool, easy-going eyes are too noticeable framed by his pretty face, and the prophecy had said that the child it spoke of has bright hair. 

Minato is talented, and he works hard to achieve his goals. Everyone truly and genuinely believed that he was going to change things. Everyone sees that the Will of Fire burns in him strongly, and that he lives and breathes in the name of Konoha. He sets his eyes far, he has big visions and ambitions, but he keeps most of it to himself. 

He keeps a lot to himself. That he knows all too well. Not that it was a good thing. Being a shinobi had taught him to push away his turmoil. Konoha bred children for war, and built them to have nerves of steel and brains loyal only to their cause. There is duty above all, the mission, but this is a flaw for those who feel too much. At the end of the day, what separated him from the enemy is that they just live in different villages. At the end of the day, there is war because there is something to gain, there is something to hate, and there is something to protect and love. 

Minato only knows how to keep to himself because it is what works for him. He knows too well that having an impulsive mind will only work against him. The more stress he is put under, even on the face of imminent death, he tends to grow even calmer. Everything he did was deliberate. He is always ten steps ahead of everyone, and he never did do anything by accident. And if he did, it fell into the possibilities that he had already thought of in advance. Rarely does he make bad choices, unless they are concerning those he loves. 

He always fails to do right by them, it seems. There are few things he regrets, and those regrets concern his son, Naruto, his wife, Kushina and his team–Kakashi, Obito and Rin. If only he had time. 

No matter how fast he is, and even if he is famed as the fastest shinobi to ever grace this world, he was always running late and far behind those that matter to him. Time bends for no man, no matter how strong and accurate his hiraishin jutsus are. Time is fair, always levelling the extremes. It did not expand its seconds and its minutes, it runs wild and long, but short and insignificant for humans. 

And no matter how significant Minato is to the world of shinobi, he is only human, and a human always succumbs to its final conclusion. 

  
  


~

  
  


Minato never really thought about his death. If he was to die, he would at least think he’d die as a legend. If he wants to be vain, he wants to be remembered as someone who fought and laid down his life because he wants to and he is able to. As a young boy, that’s what he thought. (And he never tells anyone this because he knows how screwed up and self-centered it sounds). 

Then, he met Kushina. He met Kakashi, Obito and Rin. His son, _Naruto_. 

For all his fame, he regrets not realizing earlier that all that matters is that they know his name, _Minato_ , not _Yondaime Hokage,_ not _Yellow Flash of the Konoha_. Just, Namikaze Minato. Husband, father, sensei. 

But he didn’t even get to save Kakashi on time from himself. Hell, he didn’t even get to save Obito and Rin on time, when they needed him the most. He didn’t even get to hold his own newborn son properly, unless he was saving him from the throes of death. He couldn’t be with Kushina and Naruto as a family. 

Duty shifts to his little cluster of family, until he is forced to choose. The village or them. 

He thinks, both. Both. Why should there be a choice? 

He is the _Yondaime Hokage,_ the _Yellow Flash_ , damn it. 

  
  


He would lay down his life for them, to see them live another day. 

  
  


“Are you done brooding, Yondaime?” The other half of the nine-tailed beast, Kurama, sneers at him. 

  
  


Minato picks up his kunai from where he stabbed it on the ground, and he stares at the nine-tailed beast coolly. 

“Again,” Minato commanded and he proceeded to charge ahead like he knew that he was going to win. He yanks at the tailed-beast's chakra, and the huge monster roars and protests, sending a powerful blast his way.

  
  


Here in this purgatory with half of Kurama’s chakra, he fights with the beast endlessly. Such was the consequence of using the Reaper Death Seal. He will be here for a while, until Naruto is tempted to undo his seal. Until well, someone frees him from the shinigami who holds his soul like a victory price. 

He thinks of Kushina, waiting in a better plane of afterlife, and the beautiful way her smile lights up her face and her glaring red hair. 

Then, he throws his kunai towards the Kyuubi. 

  
  


At least, he knows his name now. That is some progress. 

  
  


~

  
  


Minato feels his son, Naruto, and senses his fingers trembling at the seal that had weakened over the years. He opens his eyes, grabs the kunai painstakingly stabbed into the ground and he finally is able to flee from this purgatory with Kurama. 

He appears in front of a blond teenager, half-mad from his pain. Minato tears him away from the seal, and calmly, he says his name. 

“Naruto,” Minato utters. Even if he feels like jumping for joy, he knows that he needs to calm Naruto down first. 

His name being spoken seems to do the trick. The sound of Naruto’s name echoes peacefully like the soothing waves of an ocean. 

  
  


Naruto faces him with his own blue eyes–he has his blue eyes!– and Kushina’s face, and Minato’s heart swells with love and longing. Here he is. His child. Already grown up. 

He had missed so much of his life. He thought that he would be there for him. He never wanted to be torn away from him so early in his life. 

Naruto punches him, but it was okay with Minato. He honestly deserved it. 

  
  


His time with Naruto was quick, but he is content to go back to that purgatory, knowing that his big hopes and his dreams for his son are coming into fruition. His legacy lives on in that boy, and no matter how deep his name gets buried in history, there is _Naruto_ , his son, the Child of the Prophecy. 

He feels bad that this time, again, his time with Naruto is limited, and he didn’t even get to talk to him for long–his talk with him only consisted of how to save the village. 

Such was their life as shinobi, but he is proud of Naruto. 

  
  


He faces half of Kurama with a small smile. 

“He will succeed,” Minato promises. 

  
  


Kurama’s red eyes glower at him. “I’d love to see him try.”

Minato shrugs casually–maybe he is too at home in this purgatory space. “Too bad. You’re stuck here with me.”

  
  


~

  
  


_Kushina_ , Minato prays, even though it was probably hopeless. _Have you met him yet? Isn’t he great?_

  
  


He senses Kurama’s eyes on him, brimming with hatred, but not animosity. Minato might even go as far as calling him friend at this point, but he will not push it. He values his soul being intact, at least.

_Kushina, he has been through too much, hasn’t he?_ Minato continues. 

Then, Minato smiles fondly. 

_He acts just like you_ , Minato muses. _Luckily, those blue eyes and crazy blond hair? That’s all me, my love_. 

  
  


Minato sighs, not showing the heaviness he carries on his heart, his mind and his body. 

_He’s our dream come true, my love_ . _He will make a splendid Hokage_ . _Much better than me._

  
  


Minato glances at Kurama. His chakra is still dense and too much, but Minato has forever to do whatever he wants with it. 

_Believe it_. 

  
  


~

  
  


Minato wonders how he hasn’t gone mad yet. Maybe it was because of his years of training to endure. Maybe it was because of Kushina and Naruto. 

He finally has what he needs: time. 

  
  


He just needs to endure. Someday, somehow. He will find Kushina, like he had done all of those years ago, from the moment he first saw her and fell in love, and to the last, where she had been taken by that masked man. He will always come to her, no matter where she is. 

  
  


Minato gets recalled to life by Orochimaru, among the other past Hokages. Immediately, he senses Naruto’s chakra, even though he is far from him. He senses him in a way like he is his own limb, and well, his blood. Pride swells in his heart, because Naruto did it. 

He harnessed Kurama’s other half and they became one. 

_See_ ? He says to his own half of Kurama with smugness. _He’s my son, after all_. 

Kurama chuckles darkly. _You and your plans, Yondaime._

  
  


Minato’s presence is noticed by Senju Hashirama, the first Hokage. 

  
  


“Who the hell are you?” Hashirama interrogates. 

Minato turns to show his haori. “I’m the Fourth Hokage, sir.”

Hashirama’s eyes bulge out, as much as it can on his dead reincarnated body, like an overexcited puppy. “Holy crap! A fourth? Wow! I can’t believe it!”

  
  


Minato lets out a laugh awkwardly. This is the God of Shinobi. He should have a little bit more faith. After all, their village is built differently. It will keep rising, as much as it falls. 

  
  


~

  
  


In the battlefield, Minato is quick to transport the large Bijuu bomb. He appears in front of his son, and he straightens up. He feels faster, he even had a good minute before the bomb went off. 

“Am I late?” Minato announces, feeling more like himself by the second. 

  
  


Naruto smiles, happily. He is pleased. “Right on time, dad.”

Minato breathes a sigh of relief. He is on time. “I’m _Namikaze Minato_. Brace for an impending explosion.”

  
  


And just on cue, the Bijuu bomb goes off, showering the battlefield with water. 

  
  


~

_Oh, Obito_. Minato thinks, as he watches his former student grow even more wayward in front of his eyes. 

His hand tightens around Kakashi’s arm, stopping him from going for the kill. 

  
  


_This is on me_ , Minato tells himself. For once, he is here for them. 

“Let me do this,” Minato tells Kakashi. 

Underneath his grip, Kakashi is trembling. He knows how much pain he is in, he can feel the burden he carries and he can finally understand the torment that plagues his life. 

_Oh, Kakashi_ , Minato says silently. _I truly am sorry_ . _I asked too much of you._

He was caught up in his interests before, with being the Hokage and strategizing on how to put his foot down. 

  
  


He looks at Obito and he meets his eyes. 

_This is on me_. 

For once, he finally owns up to his transgressions, and they begin with his team. 

  
  


~

  
  


When the war is over, and everyone is trying to get a bearing on what they have lost, Minato faces his son, for what seems like the last time. 

For now, anyways. 

Time has a funny way of bringing him back to those he loves. 

The Rikudou Sennin stands around with his beloved tailed-beasts, and he waits patiently to give them time. 

Time, something he has always run out of. 

  
  


He looks at his son fondly. He truly has grown so much. 

“Happy birthday, Naruto,” Minato greets him. “You’ve grown splendidly.”

  
  


Naruto smiles at him, ever the brightest smile he’s seen. “Yeah.”

Minato opens his mouth to say more. He wants to tell him that he loves him, that he will happily lay down his life again for him, that in the next life, he wishes that they can be reunited again and be happy, and he wants to wish him well and that he will do it all again for him. Not the village. Not for his name. 

But for his dear child. _Uzumaki Naruto_. 

  
  


Naruto begins to tell him and reassure him that he will be okay, he _is_ his son after all. He starts telling him about those wishes he and Kushina laid upon him on the day they died. That he is eating healthy, and that he goes to the springs once in a while. 

Minato’s eyes never left Naruto. He keeps watching his son up to the last moment. Tears prickle his eyes. 

  
  


“I know, dad,” Naruto tells him, even though Minato has not uttered a word. “You don’t have to tell me.”

  
  


_Until later then, my son_ , Minato nods at him gently, and he closes his eyes. 

  
  


~

  
  


Minato opens his eyes to brightness. It isn’t like that place with Kurama anymore, dark and morbid and suffocating. Here, he can breathe. Here, he feels at peace. He does not feel the Shinigami’s clutches on him anymore. 

He sighs, but then he is startled by a very familiar voice. A voice that he has longed to hear, that belongs to the one and only, Kushina. 

  
  


“You’re late, y’know,” Kushina tells him with exasperation. “For the fastest shinobi on earth, you sure did take your time getting here.”

Minato gives her a small, gentle smile. Sadness tinged his pretty blue eyes, as if he had been crying. “Better late, than never, my love.”

Kushina jumps on him excitedly, ever the gremlin she is. Minato can only hold her against him preciously. He never wants to let go. 

  
  


“Oh you,” Kushina sobs into his neck. “Making me wait and all that, hm?”

Minato chuckles and he treads his fingers through her red hair. “I have been running for a long time, Kushina, but I will always come back to you.” 

He buries his face into her hair, finding the much needed comfort that he had been deprived of. 

  
  


Kushina tightens her hold around his torso. Then, she pulls away, her eyes lighting up with excitement. 

  
  


“So? How is our son, hm?!”

Minato shares her pride and enthusiasm. 

  
  


“He is perfect,” Minato starts and he breaks out into a fond grin. 


End file.
